The polar anti-tax positions

Sergey Kondratiev, Principal Director on Economic Studies at the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Kommersant newspaper on the tax incentives for NOVATEK.

In 2022, Yamal LNG accrued dividends for 740.8 billion rubles, paid 363.8 billion rubles, net profit amounted to 840.2 billion rubles. In 2023–2024, we may see a decline in Yamal LNG’s net profit to RUB 350–450 billion, since LNG prices were extremely high in 2022, Sergey Kondratiev believes. According to him, in this case, the dividends of the project could amount to about 350 billion rubles, and the share of Chinese shareholders in payments - 100-110 billion rubles. Accordingly, with zero tax on dividends, Chinese companies would receive 10-11 billion rubles per year for additional investments in Russia.

“This proposal is, of course, unusual, but it can help attract investment in the Russian gas industry,” the analyst notes.